


His Sacrifice

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Priest (2011)
Genre: Asexual Character, Community: queer_fest, F/M, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-22
Updated: 2014-04-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21762367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: There were rules in this world: work hard, grow up, learn to fight, get married, have children, serve the Church.
Relationships: Priest/Shannon
Kudos: 8
Collections: queerfest2014





	His Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

> For the QueerFest 2014 prompt: Priest, Priest, his sacrifice was harder than most, or was it? (asexual!Priest)

There were rules in this world: work hard, grow up, learn to fight, get married, have children, serve the Church. Even outside of the cities – maybe even _especially_ outside of the cities - that was what every young man was expected to do.

He did his part to the best of his ability, but he never seemed to fit in with the others. He didn’t act like the other boys, and the girls seemed to sense that and get upset with him – all except Shannon. Shannon was nice enough as girls went, and they had been friends since they were children. She didn’t seem to mind that he ignored her when she followed him, or that he never tried to steal kisses from her. She never tried to steal kisses from _him_ , so he didn’t discourage her from following.

And so, like the other boys, he did his part. He worked hard, grew up, and learned to fight. When his family began to hint very strongly that he start in on the "getting married and having babies" part of his social duty, he began to consider Shannon.

He had never really thought of girls before in that way, the way that his friends and brother joked about. He had always known, in an abstract way, that he would need to marry someone, but he had not thought about it in detail before. When he turned 18, his family made it clear that abstraction was no longer an option, and that he needed to start considering the girls he knew.

He didn’t particularly want to consider any of them, but Shannon was kind, and friendly, and didn’t get upset that he didn’t try to kiss her, and he supposed that he could make a baby with her if he had to.

He asked, she said yes, and everyone slapped them on the backs and declared that they had 'known it all along.' This surprised him, as he had thought his distaste for the whole process would have been obvious, but apparently not.

They were married a month later, which wasn't that bad. The ceremony had been nice, and the homestead he had been working towards was well built. Everyone assured him that it was the perfect size for a growing young family. He took their word for it.

That night, as they fumbled together on the brand new bed, he hoped that he was doing this correctly. He had no interest in the process, nor of course any experience with it, but Shannon seemed to be enjoying herself. At least, he hoped that she was. He wasn't the best judge of these kinds of things, and he had been warned that she might feel pain. He didn't want to cause her pain any more than he wanted to be here himself, but he had been assured that it was all normal and necessary.

He prayed they were right.

oOo

Almost a year after the wedding, a Bishop from the cities rode into town. The cities, and by extension the Church, usually ignored them out here on the fringes, save to pass through on the trains to the military bases beyond. But everyone in town knew better than to disobey a member of the Clergy when he did visit. The Bishop demanded that all the youth of the town fall out for an inspection, to find those who could serve the Church in a very special way.

At all of nineteen he was older than required, but Shannon was just under the limit, not turning seventeen for another month, so they left their squalling newborn with his brother and he escorted her to the town square.

The Bishop passed around a small sphere, which each person was required to hold aloft. Watching the others engage in this ridiculous ritual, he would have thought it a joke – if the Church ever joked.

When the artifact was passed down their row, he watched with a little apprehension as Shannon lifted it. Despite his disinterest in her body, he had come to accept and maybe even anticipate the idea of a life together with her. Nothing happened when she held the sphere aloft, however, and he let out a small sigh of relief.

As she reached over to hand it to the next girl in the line, the sphere brushed against his arm, and suddenly it emitted a blinding light. Everyone around them recoiled, as the Bishop shouted in triumph.

Before he knew it, he had been ripped from his new home and shoved onto a train where a dozen other shellshocked children huddled. All years younger than him, they turned hopeful eyes in his direction. But he had no answers for them. He was not a leader.

The train moved again and again, and each time it stopped more children were added to their car. None of them had any idea what was going, and no adults ever came with them. Unless, that is, he was counted as an adult. Having just turned nineteen he certainly was one back home, but he didn’t think he was one here.

At last the Bishop entered their car and proclaimed, "From now on you leave behind everything in your past! You shall have no affairs of the flesh or heart. You shall train in the power God has granted you and you shall fight the terrible beasts that beset his children. You have no family, save each other. You have no names, save Priest and Priestess."

oOo

Many years later, one of the youngest of the group would explain the rigors of their life to another young man from the same town as he.

She would declare that, because of his age, his sacrifice had been greater than the others chosen. She would mourn for the life of the flesh she had never had, that she believed he had left behind. She would beg to fill the gap in his life.

How could he explain that there was no gap? How could he find the words to tell her that the role of a Priest actually fit him better than any other he had tried? How could he explain that her _sacrifice_ was his _escape_?

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [His Sacrifice [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24368737) by [tinypinkmouse_podfics (tinypinkmouse)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinypinkmouse/pseuds/tinypinkmouse_podfics)




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